Battle of Almas - Opened Eyes
- Location
- At the Edge of Insanity
As Quinlan ran to meet the enemy, he realized something. He could only barely feel the Force here. He knew it was there. It was everywhere. It felt wrong, though, as he dodged around a telekinetic shove one of the Tarasin dark-siders had thrown at him. He spun away from the blaster the reptilian drew and cut off the offending arm, kicking them to the ground and throwing his lightsaber to pin them there permanently before retrieving the blade.
He looked over at Celeste and saw the same struggle written on her face. "You too, huh?" he asked.
"Yeah. The Force seems...muffled here," she said, deflecting a dark-side-empowered vibroblade away before slicing the offending Tarasin in two. "Like I'm somehow really far away from it, or I've put walls up between it and me."
Quinlan found himself facing a pair of large Tarasin who seemed strong in the dark side. One was swinging a large axe and Quinlan knew that axe would only need to connect once to have nasty results. The other had opted for a pair of Force-empowered chains that would wrap around whatever they were swung at before their wielder would yank on the ends to take their target off-balance, often setting them up for the axe-wielder to deliver a death blow.
The Force is here. Just not as you have known it, not as you have been taught it. Master Qel-Bertuk's telepathic voice intoned in their heads, Celeste moving to cover Quinlan's back as he faced them head-on.
Quinlan ducked a swing of the axe, catching the chains on his lightsaber before sliding his blade out from under it, attempting to swing at the Tarasin with the chains. He found himself blocked by a defensive swing of the axe and once again found himself at a standstill. A rush of Force-empowered swordsmen kept Celeste unable to do much more than keep one on the back foot as she defended against the other two.
You see the Force as something you connect to, something you submit to. It can guide your actions, yes, but it also follows your feelings. Let go of trying to see the future and lead the future to your desired result.
Quinlan was able to spare a glance a bit farther down the grove as Lanius Qel-Bertuk seemed to disappear before his eyes, confusing both him and the Tarasin he was engaged with. A brilliant flash of light in front of the eyes of the Tarasin followed by the reappearance of the Jedi Master behind his opponent led to the swift dispatching of the dark side cultist before him.
Celeste looked over at him. "Suppose you might be taking that whole 'light side' thing a touch literally there, Master Qel-Bertuk?"
"Just drawing some attention. You two seem like you've got your hands full, but you'll pull through," he answered.
"You've seen this?" Quinlan asked, one of the chains battering his face and sending him reeling just out of reach of the Tarasin cultist with the axe. The Jedi Master simply responded with a wink.
Celeste sprang into the air, leaping over the three blade-wielding Tarasin she was facing and managing to slash one on the shoulder. So all that has been lost was for nothing? All the sacrifices were worthless? she asked telepathically.
No. Connect to the Force and you will understand yourself and your place in the galaxy. Your sacrifices were made because of your choices and beliefs, and they helped to shape who you are. Who you are is important.
The disbelief was clear on Celeste's face, the surprise forcing her on the defensive as the two uninjured and one wounded Tarasin continued on. I am nobody. My name was stricken from historical records and there is nobody alive who knows me. This is the way it should be, the way it must be. How can you say otherwise?
The wounded Tarasin had very nearly managed to circle around Celeste, only to find his attack interrupted by a burst of light right in front of his face, met with Celeste stabbing her lightsaber behind her before sweeping it behind her back to meet her remaining two attackers with a raised guard.
The Living Force itself. It sings here, different voices joining to form harmony. You also seem to have at least some connection to the other Jedi who came with you. Quinlan Vos, unless there's another Kiffar Jedi capable of fighting at this level.
"Saves me the bother of an introduction," Quinlan answered, voice a bit strained as he took another bruising blow to the torso from the chains.
You both have enough to deal at the moment and I'm rarely all that big on social niceties myself. I frequently see twelve possible futures for important moments. Trying to figure out which one I'm in, trying to figure out how to steer the one I'm in towards the one I want to be in, and the actual steering itself is rather enough to have to deal with. It's why I'm here. Meeting the both of you.
"I thought I'd managed to get away from important moments by, ah, leaving the Coruscant Jedi behind," Quinlan Vos said. "Something's happening there…"
Lanius nodded swiftly. "Something that's distracting them, causing them to focus on the future and the big sweeping elements and making them miss the pebble in their boot," he answered. "Connecting to the Unifying Force is good, but it comes at the risk of losing your sense of self. Connecting to the Living Force is good, but it comes at the risk of developing a strong sense of your own importance." A burst of light caused the large axe-fighter to miss, which gave Quinlan the opening he needed to put the burly lizard-man on the ground, sans one...no wait, two of his limbs.
"Individual expression in harmony," Quinlan parsed, seizing the chain before it could connect with him and yanking the chain sideways towards Master Qel-Bertuk, who neatly removed the cultist's hands with his lightsaber before turning to help Celeste.
"So I'm here because my story isn't over," Celeste concluded, pushing one of the Tarasin away before she forced a block against the other one, sliding down the blade to be able to grab one of his hands and throw him at his ally, putting them both into disarray before she was able to run her blade through both of them.
"Quite right," Lanius answered. "In fifty years of being a Jedi and becoming the Grandmaster of the Academy on Almas, I've never met anybody who wasn't important. Now then...all these dark side cultists want to twist this grove to diminish everyone else, rather than raising them up and seeing them as equals. I disagree with them. Violently. Care to join me?"
Where the Force had been muffled before, Quinlan now recognized the rhythm. Where it had been distant before, Celeste now felt it close enough she could touch it.
They headed through the trees and found themselves divided. A narrow passage of trees saw Quinlan facing a half-dozen dark-side Tarasin cultists.
A blaster bolt sizzled straight for Quinlan's face, but he casually swatted it aside, meeting the charge of Tarasin cultists with a counter-charge of his own, parrying aside the empowered vibroblade and forcing it out of position before drawing his lightsaber back towards a central guard by way of his opponent's stomach. A second foe's strike was guided high as Quinlan pivoted and brought his blade through his opponent's midsection. A third attempted a chop with an axe, only for Vos to catch the haft and then drive his lightsaber through his foe's leg. Vos forced a guard in on his fourth foe, pressing him up against a tree and catching hold of the lizard-man's wrist and holding their vibroblade in place as he separated head from shoulders. Convenient as his foe's weapon was to him now, he half-threw and half-stabbed it into the cultist who'd fired the initial shot.
Another chain and axe pair were the last opponents he saw before he could reach a clearing and get his bearings again. "Really, was there a school or something? Try being original," he quipped, leaning into the Force and yanking the chain-wielder towards his outstretched lightsaber before throwing his now-deceased opponent back at the man with the axe, following the body towards his foe and then opening up the axeman shoulder to hip. He reached the clearing, noticing Celeste Morne reaching it around the same time with a similar trail of bodies behind her. "Well, glad to see the Jedi still know how to fight," she said to him.
A dozen Tarasin cultists met them at the far end of the forest, saw the bloody swath of death the two of them had left. They seemed to glance at each other a moment, before the Tarasin all universally decided to run.
"Running's good. They're as out of the fight as if we'd killed them, and there's a chance they might learn from this," Celeste observed.
Quinlan laughed. "Not, y'know, much of one, but it's worth it to give them the chance."
------
Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Oracle:
"Karrosi: Absent. Also, we're fighting spaceships, not giant balls of yarn."
"Piebald: Absent. Thank the Maker. I'd like it if we still had a fleet at the end of this, and given his penchant for explosives...46.2% chance that might not be the case."
------
((As always, written by @Barondoctor ))
He looked over at Celeste and saw the same struggle written on her face. "You too, huh?" he asked.
"Yeah. The Force seems...muffled here," she said, deflecting a dark-side-empowered vibroblade away before slicing the offending Tarasin in two. "Like I'm somehow really far away from it, or I've put walls up between it and me."
Quinlan found himself facing a pair of large Tarasin who seemed strong in the dark side. One was swinging a large axe and Quinlan knew that axe would only need to connect once to have nasty results. The other had opted for a pair of Force-empowered chains that would wrap around whatever they were swung at before their wielder would yank on the ends to take their target off-balance, often setting them up for the axe-wielder to deliver a death blow.
The Force is here. Just not as you have known it, not as you have been taught it. Master Qel-Bertuk's telepathic voice intoned in their heads, Celeste moving to cover Quinlan's back as he faced them head-on.
Quinlan ducked a swing of the axe, catching the chains on his lightsaber before sliding his blade out from under it, attempting to swing at the Tarasin with the chains. He found himself blocked by a defensive swing of the axe and once again found himself at a standstill. A rush of Force-empowered swordsmen kept Celeste unable to do much more than keep one on the back foot as she defended against the other two.
You see the Force as something you connect to, something you submit to. It can guide your actions, yes, but it also follows your feelings. Let go of trying to see the future and lead the future to your desired result.
Quinlan was able to spare a glance a bit farther down the grove as Lanius Qel-Bertuk seemed to disappear before his eyes, confusing both him and the Tarasin he was engaged with. A brilliant flash of light in front of the eyes of the Tarasin followed by the reappearance of the Jedi Master behind his opponent led to the swift dispatching of the dark side cultist before him.
Celeste looked over at him. "Suppose you might be taking that whole 'light side' thing a touch literally there, Master Qel-Bertuk?"
"Just drawing some attention. You two seem like you've got your hands full, but you'll pull through," he answered.
"You've seen this?" Quinlan asked, one of the chains battering his face and sending him reeling just out of reach of the Tarasin cultist with the axe. The Jedi Master simply responded with a wink.
Celeste sprang into the air, leaping over the three blade-wielding Tarasin she was facing and managing to slash one on the shoulder. So all that has been lost was for nothing? All the sacrifices were worthless? she asked telepathically.
No. Connect to the Force and you will understand yourself and your place in the galaxy. Your sacrifices were made because of your choices and beliefs, and they helped to shape who you are. Who you are is important.
The disbelief was clear on Celeste's face, the surprise forcing her on the defensive as the two uninjured and one wounded Tarasin continued on. I am nobody. My name was stricken from historical records and there is nobody alive who knows me. This is the way it should be, the way it must be. How can you say otherwise?
The wounded Tarasin had very nearly managed to circle around Celeste, only to find his attack interrupted by a burst of light right in front of his face, met with Celeste stabbing her lightsaber behind her before sweeping it behind her back to meet her remaining two attackers with a raised guard.
The Living Force itself. It sings here, different voices joining to form harmony. You also seem to have at least some connection to the other Jedi who came with you. Quinlan Vos, unless there's another Kiffar Jedi capable of fighting at this level.
"Saves me the bother of an introduction," Quinlan answered, voice a bit strained as he took another bruising blow to the torso from the chains.
You both have enough to deal at the moment and I'm rarely all that big on social niceties myself. I frequently see twelve possible futures for important moments. Trying to figure out which one I'm in, trying to figure out how to steer the one I'm in towards the one I want to be in, and the actual steering itself is rather enough to have to deal with. It's why I'm here. Meeting the both of you.
"I thought I'd managed to get away from important moments by, ah, leaving the Coruscant Jedi behind," Quinlan Vos said. "Something's happening there…"
Lanius nodded swiftly. "Something that's distracting them, causing them to focus on the future and the big sweeping elements and making them miss the pebble in their boot," he answered. "Connecting to the Unifying Force is good, but it comes at the risk of losing your sense of self. Connecting to the Living Force is good, but it comes at the risk of developing a strong sense of your own importance." A burst of light caused the large axe-fighter to miss, which gave Quinlan the opening he needed to put the burly lizard-man on the ground, sans one...no wait, two of his limbs.
"Individual expression in harmony," Quinlan parsed, seizing the chain before it could connect with him and yanking the chain sideways towards Master Qel-Bertuk, who neatly removed the cultist's hands with his lightsaber before turning to help Celeste.
"So I'm here because my story isn't over," Celeste concluded, pushing one of the Tarasin away before she forced a block against the other one, sliding down the blade to be able to grab one of his hands and throw him at his ally, putting them both into disarray before she was able to run her blade through both of them.
"Quite right," Lanius answered. "In fifty years of being a Jedi and becoming the Grandmaster of the Academy on Almas, I've never met anybody who wasn't important. Now then...all these dark side cultists want to twist this grove to diminish everyone else, rather than raising them up and seeing them as equals. I disagree with them. Violently. Care to join me?"
Where the Force had been muffled before, Quinlan now recognized the rhythm. Where it had been distant before, Celeste now felt it close enough she could touch it.
They headed through the trees and found themselves divided. A narrow passage of trees saw Quinlan facing a half-dozen dark-side Tarasin cultists.
A blaster bolt sizzled straight for Quinlan's face, but he casually swatted it aside, meeting the charge of Tarasin cultists with a counter-charge of his own, parrying aside the empowered vibroblade and forcing it out of position before drawing his lightsaber back towards a central guard by way of his opponent's stomach. A second foe's strike was guided high as Quinlan pivoted and brought his blade through his opponent's midsection. A third attempted a chop with an axe, only for Vos to catch the haft and then drive his lightsaber through his foe's leg. Vos forced a guard in on his fourth foe, pressing him up against a tree and catching hold of the lizard-man's wrist and holding their vibroblade in place as he separated head from shoulders. Convenient as his foe's weapon was to him now, he half-threw and half-stabbed it into the cultist who'd fired the initial shot.
Another chain and axe pair were the last opponents he saw before he could reach a clearing and get his bearings again. "Really, was there a school or something? Try being original," he quipped, leaning into the Force and yanking the chain-wielder towards his outstretched lightsaber before throwing his now-deceased opponent back at the man with the axe, following the body towards his foe and then opening up the axeman shoulder to hip. He reached the clearing, noticing Celeste Morne reaching it around the same time with a similar trail of bodies behind her. "Well, glad to see the Jedi still know how to fight," she said to him.
A dozen Tarasin cultists met them at the far end of the forest, saw the bloody swath of death the two of them had left. They seemed to glance at each other a moment, before the Tarasin all universally decided to run.
"Running's good. They're as out of the fight as if we'd killed them, and there's a chance they might learn from this," Celeste observed.
Quinlan laughed. "Not, y'know, much of one, but it's worth it to give them the chance."
------
Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Oracle:
"Karrosi: Absent. Also, we're fighting spaceships, not giant balls of yarn."
"Piebald: Absent. Thank the Maker. I'd like it if we still had a fleet at the end of this, and given his penchant for explosives...46.2% chance that might not be the case."
------
((As always, written by @Barondoctor ))
